


Two Sides Of The Same Coin

by ktbl



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Busan (Overwatch), Developing Relationship, F/F, Friendship, Identity Issues, MMWeek_2020, MekaMechanic, MekaMechanicWeek, Post-Fall of Overwatch, Slice of Life, protective brigitte
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25454821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ktbl/pseuds/ktbl
Summary: While visiting Hana in Busan, Brigitte has to realize subjectively - not just objectively - that her friend is more than just another woman. Confronted with a darker element of Hana's fame, Brigitte puts herself in between D.Va and what she views as a threat. It leads to a conversation about Hana and D.Va from the woman who balances both identities, spawning an admission as well as a risky new step.
Relationships: Brigitte Lindholm/Hana "D.Va" Song
Comments: 7
Kudos: 57
Collections: MekaMechanic Week 2020 Collection





	Two Sides Of The Same Coin

“I’m about ready to explode,” Brigitte confided as they walked out of the restaurant, inhaling the salt-spray night air of the South Korean coast. “That was so good. I feel like I need to do some extra training tomorrow.”

“I’m glad you liked it. It’s been a while since I could sneak out to someplace like that.” Hana bent the brim of her baseball cap between her hands. “Usually it’s all ‘It’s D.Va!’ And I get mobbed. Dae-hyun gives me a hard time about it because I’ve got standing invitations and tables at all these restaurants, and I never use them. So tomorrow we’ll ‘fess up to him and then we can maybe go a few rounds in the MEKA gym, if that sounds okay to you.”

“Is he going to be mad you took me out to one, Miss Famous?” Brigitte playfully elbowed Hana, who scoffed and tossed her hair. “I mean, you did spend half the meal taking pictures out the window of the scenery, or putting the food on Hollagram. I’m surprised you weren’t streaming every mouthful.”

“Gotta keep everyone updated!” Hana winked. “But Dae-hyun will probably complain, and I’ll make arrangements for him to get into a club or something.” She grinned. “But he’s known me for years, so he’ll just tease me for a couple of days and then I’ll make it up to him. It’s how we work.” Today had been a good day, spending most of it working on Tokki with Brigitte, cleaning up in the base showers from oil and grease and Brigitte nursing a pinched bit of skin from a mishap. It had been the kind of just-right camaraderie that made everything worth it, finding a synergy with a partner where everything worked perfectly. She hadn’t found anything like that since Dae-hyun, and she’d known him since childhood. Finding it wasn’t just all internet-based with Brigitte had been amazing, the kind of mind-blowing excitement and happiness that had come with winning competitions or taking out omnics. She’d never had that kind of exhilaration about a person before.

The dinner out had capped it off - just the two of them at their own table with an ocean view, uninterrupted. Probably part of a bunch of photos from everyone else in the restaurant, but at least no one had actually come over to them while they ate. Her followers would be happy with the photos and the updates, and that would be enough for now. “Come on, we can walk to the hoverbus stop, and then it’s only about fifteen minutes back to my place.”

“How long a walk? It’s a nice night. If you’re good with it, I wouldn’t mind just walking back.” Brigitte laughed. “I feel like I need to, after all that. I have barely enough energy to climb up your stairs and find my bed unless I work some of this off.”

“Food coma?” Hana grinned again. “We could walk. It’s not far, really.”

“Then let’s do that,” Brigitte said. “It’s nice, and it’ll make me feel less like I pigged out all night.” She reached for Hana’s hand, and they laced their fingers together and headed down the street. Everything was blissfully, giddily, stupidly right.

They made it five minutes down the road before Hana heard the sound. She kept walking, a little more purpose in her step, hoping she’d been wrong, or that she could out-walk it. There it was again - someone calling her name, calling out that they’d seen D.Va. Brigitte frowned slightly, looking behind them. She freed her fingers from Hana’s, and put a hand protectively on the small of her back.

“Hana, there’s - maybe four or five people, coming up, yelling your name.” Her voice dropped, and Hana watched Brigitte’s posture shift. Her shoulders went back and wide, her spine straightened, and suddenly she seemed to take up more space, “Let’s get moving.”

“It’s okay, it happens.” Hana shrugged, used to it. She didn’t really mind the attention, but it was clear Brigitte did. This happened, sometimes - eager people who found where she was from her social media updates, and decided to try and find her too. “We can go down here.” She made a hard left into an alley, Brigitte right on her heels. She didn’t particularly love the limelight as much, nowadays - she’d leave that to the rest of the squad. There was definitely time for lights and being the center of attention, but right now, with her long-distance friend come to visit, she wanted to just be Hana for a little bit. Brigitte was one of the last few things that was hers, and hers alone.

They dodged down the alley. Hana let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the wall. Brigitte’s hand smacked palm-first against the wall near Hana’s shoulder. Her fingers spread wide against the smooth metal as she angled her body to block the younger woman from view.

“How long do you want to wait? I’m obvious, and if they saw you with me, I’m easy to find…” Brigitte glanced over her shoulder. “We need to get you back safely to your place. I don’t like this, Hana,” she repeated.

“Let’s give it another minute or two,” Hana said, “and then out to the end here, and turn right. It’s really not that bad, though. I’m fine with it-“

“Alright.” Brigitte didn’t move, and Hana looked up at her profile in the shadowed light of the narrow alley. A neon light several stories up flashed red, and filtered down pink on the Swede’s face, illuminating her profile. “You sure you’re okay with this? They were… I don’t like thinking about what they’d do-“

“They’re not Gwishin, silly.” Hana reached up and touched Brigitte’s face, cupping her cheek for a moment before dropping her hand. “They’re just people, eager for a sight of someone famous.”

“I… I just forget you’re D.Va sometimes,” Brigitte said after a moment, “and that this goes with it. Friends posting on social media is one thing, but I forget with you it’s a lot more than just a couple hundred people. Just a little thing I need to remember more.” She gave Hana a soft, almost sad, smile. “Are we in the clear?”

Hana opened her mouth to answer, and whatever she said was lost in the chorus of voices that suddenly filled the alley, bright phone lights shining. She saw Brigitte’s face go hard, a sharp pivot that would have looked smoother if she’d been bedecked in armor. She looked like she realized that too, missing the shield and flail. Hana’s view was suddenly blocked as Brigitte stood in front of her, legs wide and ready to take the whole bunch. The number had doubled at least since they’d tried to lose them, and Brigitte turned her head up, staring down the alley balefully.

“Leave her alone! She doesn’t need to be hounded!”

The fans’ eyes widened, and Hana tried to step out around Brigitte, but kept blocking Hana, shielding her from view. Hana huffed and sighed, trying to push around her again.

“Brigitte, it’s okay. I’ll-“

“No, Hana, it’s not! It’s not okay! You should be able to have your time, you’re not - you’re not something for them to catch, like in a game! Look, I found D.Va? No.”

“Stop,” Hana said in an oddly firm voice. “I’ll handle this. This is - it’s part of my job, being a face for MEKA. It’s not a big deal.” She ducked under Brigitte’s extended arm, leaving the Swede to stare behind her. She walked up to the crowd, and smiled and made apologies for her brawny friend, her foreign friend who didn’t understand, who was trying to be helpful. There was embarrassed laughter, and apologies, and photos with D.Va smiling cheerfully, flashing finger-hearts and winks.

It was ten minutes of polite explanations, the visiting friend who wanted nothing to do with publicity, and it was okay, no really, she’d be fine. When Hana turned back, she found Brigitte had tried to melt into the shadows. It was almost impossible for the taller woman, but she’d tried. Her hands were jammed deep into her jacket pockets and her mouth was turned down in a frown, one foot planted at a right angle on the wall.

“You done with your adoring public?” Her voice wasn’t quite even; it sounded strained to Hana, the tight sort of stressed that Dae-hyun’s became when things got tricky but he was trying to keep his cool for her sake.

“We’re good now. It’s time to head home.”

Brigitte pushed off the wall, keeping her hands jammed deep in her pockets. It took Hana some effort to keep up with her long, quick strides. They were quiet on the rest of the walk back, an awkward tension crackling between them. Hana tried playful quips but none curved Brigitte’s lips, none made her smile so her cheeks went round like pears. They climbed the stairs in silence. It wasn’t until they were inside, shoes off and Brigitte’s coat hung on the wall, that she spoke again.

“I don’t like it. They shouldn’t do that to you.” She walked towards the couch and dropped onto the floor in front of it, pulling her knees up towards her chest. “You deserve better.”

“Look at my place, Brig.” Hana sat on the floor next to her, not quite touching. “I’ve made my life being good at things, being popular and famous. E-sports, and now MEKA, and they’re even talking about a _movie_. I don’t mind it! It’s fun. Really.” She gestured at the posters, the trophies, the photos all over the walls.

“I do.” She sighed and tipped her head back against the arm of the couch. “I just… Hana, you’re a good friend. I like you a lot. I’ve seen what work does to someone. Overwatch took some of Reinhardt’s best years, and spat him out. You’ve told me how hard it can be to be one of the faces for MEKA, even if it’s fun most of the time.” She slumped a little, resting her elbows on her knees. “Tonight, watching them mob you - I just… I couldn’t handle it. You deserve time on your own, the chance to be your own person, without always having to be MEKA’s star, D.Va. Hana deserves time, not just the superstar.”

“Brig…” Hana edged sideways slightly, so the lines of their bodies touched, shoulders and hips and thighs and legs. “It’s my job to do this. It’s… I want to help Korea, I want to help my people. I’m good at this. I’m really, really good at this. I love being good at this. But there’s sacrifices I have to make, too.”

“You shouldn’t have to!” Brigitte looked up, meeting Hana’s eyes, before looking back down at the floor. “You should be able to go out for dinner with friends. You should be able to do things without… all of that. I’m Brigitte, always Brigitte. Pappa has always been Torbjörn, Reinhardt has always been Reinhardt. You’re - you’re someone _different_ when you’re out. Hana isn’t D.Va, and you deserve the right to be Hana when you want to be. If I’d had my shield…”

“You would have scared them!” Hana’s voice trembled a little, and Brigitte couldn’t tell if it was amusement or worry. “This is why you’re such a good friend. You care about me, you want to defend me, and I couldn’t ask for a better person to do it.” One of her hands slid down and squeezed Brigitte’s fingertips. “Your knight is really lucky to have a friend like you, a squire. I work as a team, but it’s really still… me. Well, and Dae-hyun, but.”

“Of course I care about you, silly. Why else would I fly all the way out here, hear my father and Reinhardt lecturing me up one side and down the other about making sure I touched up your mech to make sure you-“

“Wait, they want you to do what!?” Hana was indignant.

“Just check it over. Make sure there’s nothing loose. Pappa worked - he’s done a lot of work with omnics, and he wants me to give another eye. He told me what kinds of vulnerabilities the omnics he dealt with had - the kinds he… worked on. I know the Gwishin are different, but… I want you to be ready for whatever comes, and he told me what to look out for.” Brigitte sighed, head still turned downwards. “If I can’t be here all the time to protect you, I want to do what I can while I _am_ here.”

Hana squeezed Brigitte’s hand again, trying to intertwine their fingers, each filling the empty spaces. She settled instead for spreading her hand wide, holding all Brigitte’s fingers at once. “And that is why you’re a good person, Brigitte, and I’m lucky to have you as a friend. You don’t care about the rest of it.”

“Would you feel the same way if you were famous? What if no one was watching your streams or your feeds, and we’d still been introduced by a mutual acquaintance?”

“Yes. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

“I’d be happy to be your big angry foreign girlfriend if it would keep them from bugging you, give you some privacy.” Her voice was low as she talked to the pink and blue rug on the floor. It seemed as if she didn’t want to see Hana’s face as she made the admission. “I’d be an excuse whenever you needed it. I wish they’d leave you alone so you could have some peace, instead of having to run around incognito, I’d be happy to let them all be mad at me. I’d be in Sweden, or somewhere else in Europe… what would it matter to me?”

“You’d be my big angry foreign girlfriend, huh?” Hana spoke slowly, tasting the words, evaluating the idea. “I’d be cooler with a big happy foreign girlfriend.”

“I didn’t-“ Brigitte looked up, wide-eyed and stricken. “I mean-“

“I wouldn’t mind,” the smaller woman said cheerfully. “I like you a lot.” At that, Brigitte looked like Reinhardt had pinned her against a wall. “I wouldn’t mind, if you didn’t.”

“You…”

“I can count on one hand the number of people who have come out to visit me and tried to avoid the spotlight. You and I met because of mechanics questions and your friend, that doctor. You didn’t want to spend the week with D.Va. You came here for Hana. For _me_. And you got in the faces of a dozen people mobbing me for photos because you wanted to protect me. That’s…” she trailed off, and shook her head. “I like you. I like you a lot,” she repeated. “I’m lucky to have a friend like you, and I’d be even luckier to have a girlfriend like you.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Hah.” Brigitte laughed, and Hana could see some of the tension ease from her. “I wasn’t sure, but…”

“But?”

“Someone… When I said I was coming out, someone said to me that if I had managed to get D.Va to take an entire _week_ off from saving Korea, even if she had to be on call for it, I’d better not mess it up.”

“Whoever it was, was right.” Hana nudged her, and Brigitte’s fingers spread open on the rug, and Hana’s dived in to link there, holding tight. “It’d take a lot more than you being protective to mess it up, though. But this - this isn’t something I’m sharing. You, and - us, if there’s going to be one - I’m not broadcasting to the media. Uh-uh, no way.” She shook her head vehemently, strands flying everywhere. “This is ours. Ours alone.”

“I can handle that. Everyone else can have D.Va, but Hana is mine.”


End file.
